HMS Audacious (1912)

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

HMS Audacious (1912)

HMS Audacious was a King George V class
King George V class battleship (1911)

This is the 1911 class; for the 1939 class see King George V class battleship The King George V class battleships were a series of four Royal Navy battleships built just prior and serving in the World War I....
battleship of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
. The vessel did not survive its first conflict, being sunk by a naval mine
Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of or contact with an enemy ship....
off the northern coast of Donegal
Donegal

Donegal is a town in County Donegal, in the Province of Ulster, in Republic of Ireland. Donegal is not the county town of County Donegal, despite being its namesake....
in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
in 1914.

At the beginning of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
Audacious was part of the Second Battle Squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)

The Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a squadron consisting of Battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet....
of the British Grand Fleet. On 27 October 1914 the Second Battle Squadron, consisting of the 'super-dreadnoughts' , , , Audacious, , and , left Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly

Lough Swilly in Ireland is a fjord-like body of water lying between the western side of the Inishowen in County Donegal and the Fanad Peninsula with the rest of northern Donegal....
to conduct gunnery exercises.

At around 08:45 on 27 October, Audacious ran upon a mine laid by the German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
auxiliary mine-layer Berlin, resulting in the flooding of several compartments.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'HMS Audacious (1912)'

Start a new discussion about 'HMS Audacious (1912)'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

HMS Audacious was a King George V class
King George V class battleship (1911)

This is the 1911 class; for the 1939 class see King George V class battleship The King George V class battleships were a series of four Royal Navy battleships built just prior and serving in the World War I....
battleship of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British Armed Forces . From the mid-18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early 1940s....
. The vessel did not survive its first conflict, being sunk by a naval mine
Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of or contact with an enemy ship....
off the northern coast of Donegal
Donegal

Donegal is a town in County Donegal, in the Province of Ulster, in Republic of Ireland. Donegal is not the county town of County Donegal, despite being its namesake....
in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
in 1914.

At the beginning of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
Audacious was part of the Second Battle Squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)

The Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a squadron consisting of Battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet....
of the British Grand Fleet. On 27 October 1914 the Second Battle Squadron, consisting of the 'super-dreadnoughts' , , , Audacious, , and , left Lough Swilly
Lough Swilly

Lough Swilly in Ireland is a fjord-like body of water lying between the western side of the Inishowen in County Donegal and the Fanad Peninsula with the rest of northern Donegal....
to conduct gunnery exercises.

At around 08:45 on 27 October, Audacious ran upon a mine laid by the German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
auxiliary mine-layer Berlin, resulting in the flooding of several compartments. The ship tried to return to port, but two hours later water leaking through the bulkheads flooded the engine rooms, forcing them to be abandoned. This left Audacious without power and led to the evacuation of all non-essential crewmembers, leaving a crew of 250. At 13.30 the nearby White Star Liner RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic

Royal Mail Ship Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic class ocean liner ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic....
arrived in answer to distress calls and volunteered to assist. Throughout the afternoon Olympic and the cruiser attempted to take Audacious into tow, but the lines snapped time and again in heavy seas.

At 18:00 the ship was abandoned by the remaining crew and capsized at 20:45, becoming the first British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
battleship
Battleship

A battleship is a large, heavily armour warship with a main artillery battery consisting of the largest calibre of guns. Battleships were larger, better armed, and better armored than cruisers and destroyers....
to be lost in World War I and the only one without loss of life (although when the Audacious exploded upon capsizing, a piece of debris flew 800 yards and killed a member of the crew of another ship, the Liverpool).

The Royal Navy tried to keep the loss a secret, officially listing the ship as in service during the entire war, but this proved to be a futile attempt, due to the fact that many American passengers on the Olympic had witnessed and photographed the sinking.

The following short announcement appeared in The Times of November 14 1918. *. : "HMS Audacious: A Delayed Announcement: The Secretary of the Admiralty makes the following announcement:- HMS Audacious sank after striking a mine off the North Irish coast on October 27 1914. This was kept secret at the urgent request of the Commander in Chief, Grand Fleet, and the Press loyally refrained from giving it any publicty"

A Royal Navy review board judged that a contributory factor in the loss was that Audacious was not at battle stations, with water-tight doors locked and damage control teams ready. Note that , of the subsequent (and fairly similar) Iron Duke
Iron Duke class battleship

The Iron Duke-class battleships of the Royal Navy were four battleships, , , , and . Launched from October 1912 to November 1913, this third class of Royal Navy super-dreadnoughts had the same ten 13.5-inch guns in five centreline twin turrets as before....
class, was torpedoed at Jutland
Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland was the largest naval battle of World War I and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. It was only the second major fleet action between steel battleships in any war, following the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, but was also the last....
and for a time continued to steam at 17 knots.

The wreck of HMS Audacious was found 24 miles north of the Irish coast, and filmed for the television show Deep Wreck Mysteries on the History Channel.

Image gallery

See also

List of battleships
List of battleships

The list of battleships includes all battleships since 1859, listed alphabetically. The list also contains battlecruisers which share most of the characteristics of a battleship or have otherwise been referred to as battleships....
List of battleships of the Royal Navy
List of battleships of the Royal Navy

This is a list of battleships of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. The term battleship originates around 1880 with the construction of the Colossus class battleship ....
List of ship launches in 1912
List of ship launches in 1912

The list of ship launches in 1912 includes a chronological list of all ships launched in 1912.|}See also ...
List of ship commissionings in 1913
List of ship commissionings in 1913

The list of ship commissionings in 1913 includes a chronological list of all ships commissioned in 1913.! width="90" |! style="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Operator...

External links